San Francisco

Super excited on the first day.

fed the ducks at Golden Gate Park

went to the Japanese Tea Gardens

slept

meet Elmo

rode a street car

of course.

slept some more

played at the beach

rode a cable car

saw my grandparents for their 60th

dancing.  lots and lots of dancing.

meeting baby G.

learning to hula

lots of video games at TA stops...

Not excited to drive on the last day.

Wordless Wednesday: Shadows

He thought it was amazing how big his head was.  He figured that meant he had a lot of brains.  I didn't have the heart to tell him it was because he was standing in the lightpole shadow.

Rock, Paper, Scissors...

At this point, Rock Paper Scissors is a fun game, not a method of breaking ties in my house.

Girlie thinks hard while she moves her hand in all the symbols until she decides which one to choose.

KK makes whatever shape you do, and then shouts out, "I WIN! HAHAHAHAH!"

But Boyo... well, he's creative. 

On the drive back from SF, he played a sword, a dinosaur, a lizard, a snake, a gun, a lollipop, a car, and a dog.

And he beat me every time because I was laughing too hard.

Wordless Wednesday: A naked tiger

What happens when I try to cook dinner.

Birthday Weekend

I do this to myself 4 times a year ... every blessed year.  

I plan too many birthday celebrations in one weekend.  

See, some of my family is out of town so I try to cram as much as I can into one weekend so that they are not inconvenienced. 

And one branch of my family has requested that we separate the kids parties from the family parties.  

And we also do one on one time with the birthday child and mom and dad.

This past weekend was Girlie's 7th birthday.  

And my last day of work was on Friday. 

Dear God, I'm exhausted.  48 whirlwind hours. 

Girlie and KK get to share a trampoline for their birthday presents. 

We FINALLY found the Frozen nightgown after stalking the Disney Store for 3 months.

Oh, right.  I did this.  Dumb Frozen party.

And this became...

...(with someone's help)...

...THIS. 

And a gymnastics party for all her friends.

She got Mom and Dad together alone at Disney.

She wanted to go on tea cups and then go shopping.

And eat pancakes.  My kind of trip.

It was exhausting and exhilirating ... she loved it.  And she was so appreciative and happy -- even without my prompting her.  

But I still slept for 12 hours straight. 

Happy 7th Birthday Girlie!

 Happy Birthday to my sweet and active,

 silly and mischevious,

 

 kind and creative 

 helpful and cheerful

 smart and brave,

 beautiful and funny

 Seven Year Old Girl! 

I love you, Jelly Bean!

Wordless Wednesday: Words from Girlie

She melts my heart

Invisible People

The middle two are afraid of monsters. 

During the day, it's a delighted fear - full of screams and shrieks of laughter. 

During the night, it's a terrified fear - waking up screaming and climbing into bed with us. 

(Have you ever tried to share a bed with a 52 pound 5 year old old who kicks, a 31 pound 2 year old who sleeps sideways, and a 160+ pound husband who snores?  It's not pleasant.  Or restful.)

We have tried everything we can think of ... Monster Spray (Lysol - destroys monsters and cleans at the same time).  Sleeping with swords (don't ask).  Logic (monsters aren't real).  Sleeping with lights on (you don't want to see my electric bill).  Keeping their rooms clean so that there are no uncertain shapes/shadows at 2 in the morning (that was a a traumatic experience for all involved.)

Nothing works... they just climb into bed with us. 

And one of us (normally me) goes and sleeps in one of their beds. 

This morning Boyo informed me that last night, he didn't see monster.  He saw invisible people walking through our house. 

"Huh," I said.  "Did they scare you?"

"Nope," he said definitively.

"What did they look like?"

"I don't know.  They were invisible."